For those of you who are coming to PotCoin for the first time — or coming back looking for additional insight into where PotCoin is going and what the team behind it is doing — this is for you!
Let’s start by explaining the reasons for PotCoin:
Despite the compelling global trend towards the legalization of cannabis for both medical and recreational use, the legal cannabis industry is still plagued by significant regulatory, legal, financial, and marketing obstacles.
In the United States, for example, marijuana is still a Schedule I Controlled Substance under Federal law. Thus, despite the legalization of cannabis at the state level, all cannabis-related businesses in the US are illegal in the eyes of Federal authorities. As a result:
- Payment companies will not provide services, forcing the entire legal cannabis supply chain (from growers to dispensaries) to be conducted largely on a cash basis.
- Banks are reluctant to work with canna-related businesses and, in any case, cannot efficiently handle the large quantities of cash without triggering regulatory scrutiny and unwanted audits.
- Entrepreneurs looking to get into the space can’t get bank loans to help fund their business, despite proven projections of profitability, nor can they easily get insured to protect their business.
- Accurate and transparent accounting is a major challenge in any cash-based business, which also tends to attract unwanted criminal elements.
- The inability to accept convenient payments (online or in-store) is a significant sales and marketing constraint.
- Most advertising channels will not work with canna-related businesses.
Some cannabis-related businesses have tried to bypass these obstacles by accepting Bitcoin and Ether, or other cryptocurrencies. However most people (including the average cannabis consumer) do not understand or feel comfortable in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. In addition, the nominal value of a single Bitcoin or Ether is very high, and not suitable for small-scale retail purchases.
Moreover, cannabis vendors have been reluctant to embrace cryptocurrencies due to their constant fluctuation in value, which makes it difficult to establish accurate pricing and can also have a substantial impact on revenue stability.
PotCoin (POT) was launched in 2014 and has become the first viable cryptocurrency for the legal cannabis industry. Embraced by a growing network of industry partners and users, POT’s market cap is currently (December 2017) close to $75 million. Leveraging this success, PotCoin is now establishing the PotCoin Foundation (Newco), which will address the volatility issue and provide an end-to-end business trading platform that can be adopted en masse. PotCoin is and will continue to be THE solution for the legal cannabis industry.
Your next question is probably, what’s PotCoin’s plan?
PotCoin is pouring its team and its current and future resources into the development of an ecosystem that can provide all of the business services — at scale — that are currently unavailable to the legal cannabis industry.
The PotCoin Foundation provides the backbone for developers around the globe to collaborate with the PotCoin team to build an end-to-end, decentralized, token-based, and secure solution through which users, sellers, growers, manufacturers and other legal cannabis stakeholders can seamlessly conduct and manage peer-to-peer (PTP), business-to-consumer (B2C), and business-to-business (B2B) purchasing and supply relationships. The flexibility of the PotCoin platforms ensures that transactions can be easily adapted to meet the specific requirements of each country in which the legal cannabis trade is being conducted. Here’s an example of how it would look:
How do you plan to fix volatility?
Cryptocurrency volatility is an obstacle for the cannabis industry, where pricing accuracy is paramount. PotCoin Foundation’s new pegged digital token provides stability by working like a points/gift card system. The tokens, which will be pegged to either a currency, unit of marijuana or other stable commodity, will be purchased through the Foundation with fiat or cryptocurrency, and will be redeemable at any of the PotCoin-affiliated providers, as well as on PotCoin Foundation’s platforms such as the Marketplace, Crowdfund, Debit Card, and so on.
The existing POT digital currency will continue to be traded on cryptocurrency exchanges and will capture value from the growth and success of PotCoin Foundations’ ventures and innovations. However, the new token digital will be a non-volatile, internal transactional tool that will drive the growth of the PotCoin community and revolutionize the legal cannabis space.
How will the PotCoin community profit?
PotCoin Foundation will offer lending and investment opportunities for cannabis related ventures, available to any community member provided their project meets requirements and gets chosen.
As the Foundation, its platforms, and their revenues grow, apportioned rewards will be issued to each community member that holds PotCoins. These rewards will be based on the profits that remain after funds have been allocated to the PotFund and to any new business ventures as part of the expansion of the Foundation’s family of businesses.
Why PotCoin?
Improving the reputation of the industry is key and PotCoin will continue to be a leader in the space with its cutting-edge system that facilitates a host of secure, transparent, and standardized services for growers, consumers, suppliers and researchers. It will provide outstanding support for the community, including new wallets, improved tech and faster customer service. A portion of the revenues from its novel platforms will be used to improve and strengthen the PotCoin ecosystem.
Despite no major external funding to date, PotCoin has already started development on many of the platforms described here (a new HD wallet, the marketplace, and more), and is only now actively seeking additional funding through a variety of channels to help move this major innovation forward. We are currently exploring several different funding options, which we will share with the community as soon as we have determined which avenue will be most beneficial for the community and for advancing its vision and endeavors.
We are in discussions with respected names in the cannabis and cryptocurrency industries, Fortune 500 executives, and renowned universities to form strategic partnerships. An announcement of the team members, advisory board, other key associations and a much more detailed outline will be coming soon.
How can you get involved?
2017 was a great year for PotCoin and we are confident that 2018 will be a banner year that will make all our supporters, investors and contributors proud to be part of this journey. The plant that has been banned around the world for close to 100 years is finally getting its due.
PotCoin will continue to be a pioneer committed to the legalization of cannabis worldwide. We employ unconventional viral marketing techniques to draw attention and raise awareness to our cause. We invite anyone interested in becoming a PotCoin brand ambassador to contact us at media@potcoin.com.
As the PotCoin community scales, its business solutions will be embraced by more and more players in the cannabis industry. We hereby invite you to join us in this exciting venture — add your ideas, businesses, or technology to the ecosystem to help it thrive. You can email us at community@potcoin.com, with “Idea” as the subject.
And here’s another way you can get involved.
Dennis Rodman has been an important ambassador for PotCoin, bringing us to the attention of millions. As one of the greatest rebounders in NBA history and a Hall of Famer, he now works on his greatest challenge — to bring peace. Much like he did on the courts, he won’t back down and will continue to travel the world to replace war with peace and love — an ideology that is embraced by cannabis enthusiasts everywhere. This man deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts and for the risks and criticism he takes as he pursues his objective. One of PotCoin’s goals is to make sure he gets recognition for his efforts. Imagine how you’ll feel knowing that our community helped achieve peace, avoid war, and get Dennis Rodman the Nobel Peace Prize!
You can see Dennis the peacemaker next on Wednesday, December 13th, 2017 on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Disclaimer: To the maximum extent permitted by the applicable laws, regulations and rules, PotCoin and/or the PotCoin Foundation shall not be liable for any indirect, special, incidental, consequential or other losses of any kind, in tort, contract or otherwise (including but not limited to loss of revenue, income or profits, and loss of use or data), arising out of or in connection with any acceptance of or reliance on this Vision Board or any part thereof by you.